Wild 2015-16: Stumbling Out

Alternate logo since 2003. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Minnesota Wild ended their NHL season with a first round Stanley Cup playoff loss in six games to the Dallas Stars, the team that left Minnesota nearly a quarter century ago.  Considering the type of regular season the Wild had, it's a wonder the team made it to the playoffs at all, let alone for the fourth consecutive season.  And why even a major overhaul might not be the answer for seasons to come.

The Wild ended the regular season with 87 points, the fewest to qualify for the playoffs since the shootout era began.  They had two epic winless streaks, which resulted not only in getting coach Mike Yeo replaced with John Torchetti on an interim basis, but in nearly missing out on the last wild card playoff spot.  Along with the poor-to-indifferent play, there were key injuries such as the one to Zach Parise, whose back issues caused him to miss the remainder of the season and may require surgery.

It is now painfully obvious that the Wild spent too much money signing too many long-term contracts with free agents who, it turns out, are past their prime.  The Iowa Wild, their minor league affiliate playing out of Des Moines, have been the worst team in the American Hockey League the past couple of seasons.  Minnesota's draft prospects aren't that great either, having traded most of those picks to get the veterans you see on the ice today.

General manager Chuck Fletcher is expected to stick around, and so might coach Torchetti--if for no other reason than the Wild couldn't find anyone better.  We hear there's not exactly a bumper crop of experienced former NHL coaches this year.

A Stanley Cup title is not in the Minnesota Wild's future as long as their underachieving players continue to coast during the regular season, doing just enough to earn that final playoff spot, then hitting the golf courses once they've been eliminated in the first or second round.  Management needs to be reminded that money spent on pricey free agents doesn't change everything.  It only masks the problems that already exist on the ice, no matter how many sellouts you have at Xcel Energy Center.

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Our projected Stanley Cup Final matchup:  Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Dallas Stars.

Wolves 2015-16: Out of the Ashes

The current Minnesota Timberwolves logo (2008-present) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Minnesota Timberwolves began their season mourning the death of coach and director of basketball operations Flip Saunders.  Interim coach Sam Mitchell was tasked with the job of shepherding a team filled with talent, including Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns and Zach LaVine, that long-suffering fans hoped would take them to where the Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors are now.

Now it's the end of the season, and the Wolves with a 29-53 record did not make the playoffs once again.  They made news in the past few weeks with signature wins over the Warriors (at Oakland), Oklahoma City, Portland and Memphis.  In the final game of the season at Target Center, the Wolves put up 144 points--the most in team history--on the New Orleans Pelicans.  Towns (a possible NBA Rookie of the Year) scored 28 points, 14 rebounds and two three-pointers, marking the 51st time this season that he has triple-doubled in a game.

Despite players and some media members requesting the Wolves to keep Mitchell as coach, his status went from 'interim' to 'former'.  The same fate awaits General Manager Milt Newton, once the NBA Draft is over and the team determines who takes over Saunders' old jobs.  There will be plenty of candidates this time around, unlike what happened before disgruntled Kevin Love was traded to the Cavs.

Yes, the Timberwolves have a bright future.  But that's the same thing we were told about the Minnesota Twins before this season, and look where they are now.  Winless to start the 2016 baseball season, as of April 14.  The Wolves have been down this road many times, and they are perfectly capable of screwing up the future again.

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Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant said goodbye to his playing career by dropping 60 points in a rare Los Angeles Lakers victory over the Utah Jazz at Staples Center.  He has had a great career, but the Lakers and their fans couldn't wait to see him leave so they could start winning without him.

The Warriors did indeed win its 73rd game of the season against the Memphis Grizzlies, a new NBA record.  Unless they win another championship, how much will it actually mean?

Our NBA Finals pick:  Toronto Raptors vs. Golden State Warriors.

UPDATE (4/20/16):  The new coach and Chief Basketball Operator is Tom Thibodeau, who used to run the Chicago Bulls and get them into the playoffs.  Time will tell whether Tommy T. will do the same thing with the Wolves before inevitably running them into the ground.

NCAA: A Dynasty and a Buzzer-Beater

English: National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) logo. Source: http://www1.ncaa.org/eprise/main/Public/mlp/promotions_special_events/pe_web/promo_manual/memos/identity.pdf Converted by User:King of Hearts from :Image:National Collegiate Athletic Association logo.png using Inkscape. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The 2016 NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships were notable in that one team came completely out of nowhere to win it all, and the other renewed its dominance over the sport with a record-setting fourth consecutive title.  Here's what happened:

Connecticut 82, Syracuse 51

A few records were set in Indianapolis Tuesday as the Huskies won their fourth consecutive NCAA women's title.  Not only has no other team won that many in a row, but they have also won 75 straight games.  Coach Geno Auriemma has now won more championships (11) than John Wooden ever did during his tenure as the UCLA men's coach in the 1960s and 70s.  Senior Breanna Stewart closed her college career by scoring 24 points, ten rebounds and six assists against the Orange, earning her the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament for the fourth time.  No other player had done that, either.

Some might ask whether UConn's domination is good for women's basketball when the sport is struggling to be on a par with the men's game in terms of media attention and fan support, and why the best players in the country seem to land on Auriemma's squad as if it were an all-star team.  This shouldn't diminish the impact of what the Huskies women have accomplished, but it should be food for thought.

Villanova 77, North Carolina 74

The Wildcats' win in Houston Monday night was just as surprising as the last time they won the men's title, which was in 1985.  Right after Marcus Paige of the Tar Heels shot a three-pointer to take the lead with five seconds left, Kris Jenkins went down the floor to hit his own three as time ran out to give Villanova the championship.  Ryan Arcidiacoma, who scored 14 points in the final game for the Wildcats, was the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player trophy winner.

If nothing else, Villanova not only rescued a mostly mediocre tournament filled with blowouts and upsets, but they also spared the NCAA from the embarrassment of having to strip North Carolina of its title because of alleged academic improprieties..  The Tar Heels might get sanctioned anyway, but nobody's holding their breath.

Seventeen million folks watched the men's championship game on TBS, the first time it had been seen only on cable.  That's eleven million down from last year's game on CBS, which was more highly-anticipated than this year's was.  Wonder if the number would have been more if there hadn't been "homer" feeds on TNT and truTV?

Twins 2016: Running In Place

Gulf Coast League Twins (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Minnesota Twins had their best season since 2010, finishing in second place in the American League Central Division behind eventual World Series champion Kansas City.  Which was quite a feat since the Twins were consistently lousy in the years in between.  In 2016, they hope to do a lot better.

How can you do that when you're in a division where every other team has improved, at least on paper?  Other than signing a slugger from South Korea named Byung Ho Park, trading with the New York Yankees for backup catcher John Ryan Murphy and the retirement of Torii Hunter, the Twins didn't do much during the off season.

So General Manager Terry Ryan, manager Paul Molitor and everyone else will have to make do with young players (Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano) who have promise to be promising, a highly-paid veteran (Joe Mauer) they still don't know what to do with, an infield with hitting chops and little else, and a hot-and-cold pitching staff not marred (they hope) by drug suspensions and slumps.

Ricky Nolasco has been named the starting pitcher when the Twins open their season at Baltimore against the Orioles April 4.  What happens after that depends on how competitive they are with what they've got.  It won't be enough to get beyond third place, but enough to see more signs of life on a franchise that hasn't seen enough of it lately.

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Our picks for who's going into the playoffs come October:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

EAST  Boston Red Sox
CENTRAL  Kansas City Royals
WEST  Houston Astros
WILD CARD  Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels

NATIONAL LEAGUE

EAST  New York Mets
CENTRAL  St. Louis Cardinals
WEST  San Francisco Giants
WILD CARD  Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers 

Pot Shots 2016

Maria Sharapove (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The NCAA men's basketball tournament is going on as we speak.  That means teams from Power Five conferences with championship aspirations are playing "Cinderellas" from small conferences, played at neutral sites on generic-looking courts that might as well be mistaken for TV studios, and televised on networks other than CBS that are not known for sports coverage (TBS, TNT, TruTV).   Wake us when it's the Final Four, which will be held at a football stadium in Houston.

Peyton Manning retires from playing football after winning one more Super Bowl.  Now if he were only as nimble in getting past allegations of performance-enhancing drug use, or what really happened with allegations of sexual assault when he was a student at the University of Tennessee two decades ago.

The Minnesota Vikings have big plans for the future, now that their new Glass Palace is almost ready.  They recently purchased the old Northwest/Delta Airlines headquarters in suburban Eagan, hoping to turn it into a state-of-the-art office and practice facility.  The Vikings also tried to get the city of Minneapolis to change the name of the street their stadium is on from Chicago Avenue to Vikings Way, which was rejected and the team ultimately dropped the idea.  Changing the name of Chicago Avenue for competitive reasons (the Bears are in the same division, duh) makes the Vikings look petty and mean, not to mention ignorance of local history.  They shouldn't be overplaying their hand in public relations.

The Chicago White Sox have decided they'd rather let first baseman Adam LaRoche retire rather than let him bring his son into the team clubhouse for every game.  Now, most of us agree that clubhouses should be considered work places for players and not day care. But what if LaRoche's son had a fatal illness or some other special need?  Then the White Sox would be in PR hell for this.

Tennis star Maria Sharapova has admitted to testing positive for meldonium at the recent Australian Open, a substance banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.  For Sharapova's honesty, a few of her sponsors have dropped her, and any suspension would mean the end of her career.  Which makes you wonder about Serena Williams . . .

President Barack Obama is going to Cuba soon, becoming the first U.S. leader to visit there since Calvin Coolidge nearly 90 years ago.  While there, the President will attend a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and a team of Cuban all-stars.  It's all part of Obama's mission to make Castro Land safe for Americans again, even if Fidel and Raoul aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Wolves 2015-16: Growing Pains

The current Minnesota Timberwolves logo (2008-present) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Minnesota Timberwolves, in their first game since the week-long All Star break, lost to the Grizzlies in Memphis 109-104.  The Wolves are 17-38, and will once again not be playoff-bound.  That doesn't really matter because everyone seems to be pointing to the big future the team supposedly has, what with the presence of Number One draft picks Anthony Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns.  But sometimes the future can be a mirage, not turning out the way you wanted.  The Wolves have had plenty of experience with that.

As the recent NBA All Star Weekend in Toronto showed, Wiggins, Towns and Zach LaVine impressed enough souls around the league to convince them that all is not lost in the American North.  What's holding the Wolves back is not just the strength of the Western Conference (though the dominance of the defending league champion Golden State Warriors is an exception), but also the questions surrounding the supporting cast.

Ricky Rubio is a good NBA player, but hasn't been the same since a serious knee injury took him down a few years ago.  Kevin Martin doesn't seem to be the answer either, though the Wolves tried and failed to move him before the trade deadline.  And Kevin Garnett is just biding his time before announcing his retirement.

In the months since the death of Phil "Flip" Saunders, this season has been more or less an audition for interim coach Sam Mitchell.  With the record the Wolves have this season compared to last, anything could be considered an improvement.  But there are the rumors that owner Glen Taylor would toss aside Mitchell and general manager Milt Newton in favor of a bigger name who would love the challenge of turning the Wolves into a legitimate winner, which would be a far cry from when Saunders took the coaching job for the second time when no one else wanted it.  Or if Garnett and his teammates have anything to say about it. Mitchell would be the permanent coach.

For the rest of the season, the audition continues.  Will Towns and Wiggins improve enough to start becoming leaders?  Do the Wolves have the pieces to at least be a .500 team, or do they need more pieces that fit?  How much longer can Rubio justify his presence?  Is Mitchell really the right coach?  And how much longer will it be before the Timberwolves and the NBA are relevant again in Minnesota?

Super Bowl 50: Peyton Manning Rides Into the Bay Area Sunset

Denver Broncos logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On this golden anniversary of the Super Bowl at a football stadium named for a jeans manufacturer near San Francisco, the Denver Broncos' defense ruled over the Carolina Panthers 24-10, easing the way for quarterback Peyton Manning to retire in style should he choose to do so.

The Broncos' D held Cam Newton and company's explosive offense in the same manner that they handled Pittsburgh and New England during the playoffs, limiting the Panthers to ten points and causing five turnovers--one of which resulted in a touchdown.  Not for nothing was Von Miller named the Super Bowl MVP.

Manning didn't have a great game either, having thrown for 104 yards and getting sacked five times.  But the way his team's defense had been playing, it wasn't a problem.  Now, with adding to the Manning family's total of four Super Bowl victories (both Peyton and Eli have two each), he can just sit back, sip the brew he holds a distributorship in, collect the money on all those TV endorsements, and decide what to do next.

That's the game, such as it was.  As for everything else that makes up a Super Bowl . . .

• We expect this at every major sporting event now.  The ruthless crackdown on "undesirables" to put on a shiny, happy show for the visitors.  The super-patriotic pregame show with the celebrity singer who screws up the national anthem, all paid for with "your" tax dollars.  Only those with oodles of money get to see the Big Game while the rest of us peasants watched on TV (nearly 112 million, according to CBS).  All this to show the rest of the world that America is still The Greatest Country On The Planet, and that's no Donald Trump hyperbole.
• Whose bright idea was it to schedule Coldplay as the headline act for the Super Bowl halftime show?  (Wasn't Taylor Swift available?)  Fortunately, Beyonce (who used the occasion not only to figuratively raise a middle finger to racist police, but to promote her upcoming tour) and Bruno Mars were around to keep things from flatlining.  But the whole show still seemed like an extended commercial for next week's Grammy awards, which just happen to be on CBS.
• Companies pay exorbitant amounts of money to get their ads into the Super Bowl telecast.  So how come most of them turn out to be boring, confusing, imitative, insensitive, or just plain stupid?  ("Puppymonkeybaby"?  Really?)  Oh well, they got what they paid for.
• Can we please end the new postgame tradition of Hall of Famers like Joe Namath parading the Vince Lombardi Trophy through the gauntlet of players from the winning team, who then put their paws and saliva on it before it's even officially awarded?  Gross.  Yuck.  Eww.  This makes the Stanley Cup ceremony seem classier by comparison.